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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Microsoft is expanding a program that gives schools the ability to prevent
ads from appearing in search results when they use its Bing search engine. The program, launched in
a test this year, is now available to all U.S. schools, public or private, from kindergarten
through the 12th grade.

The program is meant to create a safer online environment for children, but also promote use of
Bing, which trails market-leader Google.

Microsoft Corp. is also giving a first-generation Surface tablet computer to schools where
community members sign up to use the ad-supported version of Bing outside of the school.

The program is tailored so that 60 parents and friends who conduct 30 Bing searches a day can
earn their school a Surface in a little over a month. There is no limit on the number of Surface
devices a school can earn.

Microsoft has some unsold inventory of the first-generation Surface in stock after booking a
large write-down on the devices last year.

Matt Wallaert, a Microsoft employee who created the “Bing in the Classroom” program, said the
company hopes that some of the program’s goodwill leads to more Bing usage.

“We absolutely are an ad-supported business, but we think that schools are not the time and
place for that,” he said. “Obviously we hope that parents will hear that message and want to use
Bing at home.”